A congratulatory cake sits beside pictures of Flint Northwestern senior Sparkle Taylor at the signing of her National Letter of Intent. (Lauren Justice | MLive.com)

FLINT, MI – Flint Northwestern senior Sparkle Taylor wasn’t 100 percent certain that the University of Texas at El Paso would be her school of choice when she verbally committed in October but now she’s completely sure.

Taylor signed her National Letter of Intent at a press conference in the Wildcat Room at Northwestern High School on Friday afternoon accepting an athletic scholarship to play basketball at UTEP.

“Everybody kept telling me to go big time but I’ve realized that it’s not all about that,” announced Taylor, who held eight college offers. “It’s just where you feel comfortable and UTEP is big time to me it’s Division I.”

Taylor became Northwestern’s first NCAA Division I girls’ basketball signee since Simone Trice signed with Georgia Tech in 2007. UTEP began the recruiting process with Taylor in her ninth grade year. Taylor claims the college process was tough but she’s proud of her final decision.

“UTEP was the only school that was really showing me love,” Taylor said. “I was thinking that if I went out in my senior year and got injured then there’s a chance of me not going to college.”

Nearly 50 people filled up the Wildcat Room in support of Taylor. Her family, friends and local high school athletes like Olympic gold medalist boxer Claressa Shields, Beecher football star Eric Cooper, and Northwestern’s girls’ varsity basketball squad were in attendance. Everyone cheered her on throughout the event.

Tracy Mull, Taylor’s mother, sat next to her daughter throughout the presser sporting a shirt that read: “UTEP Mom.” Mull is still nervous about sending her daughter away to El Paso, TX after high school but she now laughs at how Taylor decided on UTEP in the first place.

“When I got up to get some water one night at like two o’clock in the morning she said ‘Ma, I made my decision,’” Mull remembered. “I said ‘What are you talking about?’ and she said ‘I’m going to UTEP’ and I was like are you dreaming? Are you serious? And I told her that we would talk about it when she wakes up and that was that.”

As a junior, Taylor averaged 15.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game for the Wildcats as the team’s second leading scorer. She’s ecstatic about finishing her final year out strong.

“I’m very prepared,” Taylor said. “I’ve been waiting on this day.”

Northwestern will begin its girls’ basketball season on Tuesday, Nov. 27 versus Clio at home. The ball will be tipped off at 7 p.m.